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Diablo wiped his eyes while Erina watched him in confusion.
“You were the one who tried to kill me to begin with...”
Diablo said nothing.
“Were you coerced to fight, too?” Erina’s bitter expression, which seemed to hold contempt for the rest of the world, melted away, leaving an expression that befit a girl her age.
“What?!” Diablo exclaimed.
“You’re not...?”
“You were coerced into fighting in this war?!”
“Aah, erm...”
“You may tell me more.”
“Hmm? And if I tell you, will you save me from this place?”
“I might.”
“Ah?!” Erina let out a surprised cry.
Her shock was understandable. Diablo wasn’t joking, though. He got the feeling there were extenuating circumstances to consider here. He’d already gotten that creeping suspicion when he first fought them. This girl, and her friend Rikka who piloted Viatanos of the White, didn’t strike him as villains. If anything, they had the same outlook as Diablo. ‘I don’t want to kill or be killed.’ Diablo didn’t pretend to be some kind of pacifist, but he didn’t want to take a life if he could help it.
His resolve only extended that far.
And so, if the Gelmed Empire really was forcing those girls to fight, Diablo’s intuition made sense.
Erina fell silent. She was hesitating. And after glaring at Diablo for a long moment... She let out a long, despondent sigh.
“...Fine... I don’t care anymore. I’m done for either way...” Apparently she’d resigned herself and began speaking.
“My homeland was occupied by the Gelmed Empire. It was a small Human country, where my clan and I lived in hiding.”
“A Vampire clan?”
“I’m a half-Vampire. Our ancestral Vampires were wiped out, and their minions fled from Hunters to seek refuge in that country... Though that happened centuries ago.”
“Mm.”
“My comrades, who pilot the other Magimatic Sols, all come from similar backgrounds. Lady Aira, Lady Migurtha, Bakki, Saya, Toaha, Rikka...”
The mention of Rikka’s name sent a pang of pain through Diablo’s heart, but he couldn’t have afforded to spare her. He did it to save Rem, and didn’t regret what he did. He didn’t have the presence of mind to worry over the enemy’s well-being given the situation, but now that he knew that they were being compelled into fighting this war, the regret grew deeper. Would she have been saved if he could have simply handled the situation better? Would he have had another choice?
But while his regret weighed down on him, his anger toward the Gelmed Empire was just as intense.
“So they took your families hostage to force you all to fight?”
“Yes...”
“I don’t understand. I’m sure there’s plenty of soldiers who’d gladly pilot a Magimatic Sol and fight on the battlefield. Why would they go so far as to take hostages specifically to force you?”
Diablo couldn’t imagine Erina being an exemplary soldier.
“Aaaah?!” Erina seemed outraged by his implication. “As unwilling as I am to fight, I’ll have you know I’ve remained undefeated across many battlefields...!”
“You won not on the merit of your own strength,” Diablo chided her gravely. “Do not forget those victories are owed to the Magimatic Sol’s performance.”
“I-I know that!”
“Then why?”
“...Only compatible people may control a Magimatic Sol.”
“Compatible people...?”
Was there something about that in Girls’ Arms’ story? Diablo only played it for a short while, so he didn’t remember the background story that deeply.
Was it the “Chosen Pilots”...?
Diablo did remember something that seemed to fit the bill, but...
“Whoever is placed within a Magimatic Sol has their heart read by its interior.”
“Go on.”
“And if that reading does not satisfy the Magimatic Sol...”
“Mm?”
The chains clinked. Looking down, Diablo found the iron shackles binding Erina’s limbs had the holy mark etched onto them. Erina clenched her teeth, and then spat out the rest.
“Those who are found incompatible... are devoured by the Magimatic Sol.”
“Wh-What?!”
“And so the Empire’s army took our families hostage, placed enslavement spells on us, and threw us into Magimatic Sols... I know not how many people were tested, but... There’s no doubting that at least an entire town’s worth of people was likely consumed by those tests...” Crimson droplets rolled down Erina’s cheeks. Such was the color of a Vampire’s tears.
Diablo was speechless. He’d once imagined something — he’d appeared in this world in the form of his game character from Cross Reverie, but might there have been a chance he’d have appeared in the world of Girls’ Arms? And if so, would he have been these girls’ commander?
That’s absurd... They use experiments that might... no, that likely will kill their subjects, just to pick pilots?! And they take hostages to force them to do it?
“Unforgivable...!” Diablo clenched his fist angrily.
“Hii?!” Erina flinched in fear.
Diablo inadvertently allowed his magical energy to leak out again. That tended to happen when he lost his temper. Diablo took a deep breath to calm himself.
“...I’ll at least have them prepare you some clothes.”
He sympathized with Erina and her comrades, but the Church’s soldiers lost friends and families in the latest battle. They wouldn’t pardon an enemy soldier so easily, but he could at least give her some humane treatment.
“I don’t need any clothes.”
“What?”
“How I’m treated doesn’t matter, but I want to request something of you.”
“...Request something of me...?”
“Please, save Lady Aira and the others. That’s all I ask for. None of them wish to fight.”
“You ask me to save them, but...”
“The master of our enslavement spells and the one commanding the scouts holding our families hostage are one and the same — the commander of the invasion army! A man called Doriadanph! He’s a powerful Magimatic mage in the Gelmed Empire! If you can defeat him, just that one man...!”
Her request was easier said than done. Defeating an enemy army’s commander could overturn the tides of battle. That much was obvious, which meant the Empire would keep him well-guarded, so reaching him would be a challenging task.
What’s worse, Aira and the other pilots were currently on the enemy’s side. Magimatic Sols were individually powerful, and Diablo couldn’t hope to hold back if he aimed to defeat one. Not to mention the fact that, logically speaking, he had no reason to accept. However, his gamer’s instincts were steering him the other way.
The more challenging a quest is, the better!
“Ahahahaha!” Diablo laughed with bravado as he flapped his cloak. “You petition a Demon Lord for help? You are a curious one! But any who enact such inane cruelty before my eyes will be met with a death most painful! I shall teach that fool Doriadanph the terror of facing the one true Demon Lord!”
He spoke the emotions in his heart, punctuating them with his Demon Lord-ly attitude. Erina gulped... and then her eyes grew moist again. Red tears streaked down her cheeks one after another.
“Uuu... Aaaah... Aaaaaaah! Whaaaaaaaaaaa!” She broke into sobs.
The room’s door swung open loudly.
“Paladin Captain?!” Tria called out.
“Huh?! Oh, no... This is...”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Y-You’ll... defeat... h-him... You’ll... save Lady... Aira... Aaaaaaah!”
He was standing in front of a sobbing, howling naked girl with the wicked smile of a villain on his lips. Tria looked at him with conflicted eyes.
“E-Erm... Lady Lumachina has decreed that we are not to abuse any prisoners. So if you could, despite your station, abstain from torture...”
I, uh, I wasn’t torturing anyone!
But making excuses wouldn’t be the Demon Lord-ly thing to...
Diablo walked out into the corridor.
“Hmph! I’ve no more use for her. She gave me the information I wanted, so do what you will with her,” he said, and then turned to the priests. “Also, prepare her some clothes. She may be an enemy soldier and a Vampire, but she is still of the races. Or do you intend to oppose the High Priest’s wishes?!”
“By your order!”
Diablo was confident they would handle this matter well. Diablo then left the prison camp.